Does a viral image authentically show European leaders taking off their suit coats in support of Ukraine during a group picture? No, that's not true: The image is likely a screenshot from a video that was digitally edited, possibly using AI. Actual footage of the moment the group picture was taken did not show anyone taking off their suit and no news outlets reported about it happening at the time.
A viral example of the screenshot can be seen in this post on Bluesky (archived here) published on March 15, 2025 with a comment that read:
European leaders taking off their jackets in a united show of support for President Zelensky.
This is what the image looked like:
(Image: screenshot taken by Lead Stories on March 16, 2025 at 12:59:11 UTC)
The caption text on the image read: "European Leaders took off their suits to support Ukraine!!"
The bottom right corner of the image showed a volume control button and a partial watermark from digital video editing app InShot:
(Image: screenshot detail taken by Lead Stories on March 16, 2025 at 13:02:05 UTC)
The events seemingly depicted in the image would have taken place on March 2, 2025 at Lancaster House in the U.K. according to video coverage by Sky News (archived here):
Political leaders have gathered in the lower hall of Lancaster House for a "family photo" as they discuss Europe's defence and security.
The group of leaders joined by Sir Keir Starmer, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, stood for a photograph at the bottom of a grand staircase in front of a spread of national flags.
The relevant moments in the video do not show anyone removing their jacket:
Several key details in the video also don't match with the viral image, such as the colors of some ties and items of clothing.
Lead Stories reviewed news stories about the Lancaster House meeting published at the time it took place by reviewing search results in Google News (archived here) and found no mention of European leaders removing their suit jackets in the group photo, something which would have been newsworthy if it had happened in front of the cameras, given U.S. conservatives' criticisms of Zelenskyy for not wearing a suit to his February 28, 2025 meeting with President Trump at the White House.
The video resembles clips recently uploaded to TikTok that show various world leaders taking off their suit jackets in support of Ukraine. Here's one such example (archived here):
Watch on TikTok
In that video you can spot the use of AI with the naked eye as there are several glitches with the hands and arms of the people in the video and at one point somebody takes off their jacket only to reveal an identical one underneath it.
